Numerous cantilevered shelf arrangements are attached to upright walls to permit storage or display of goods. Such shelf arrangements are increasingly utilized in commercial establishments such as retail stores, restaurants and other businesses. Such shelving arrangements often involve brackets which secure to the wall and project outwardly therefrom so as to underlie and attach to the shelf. Such brackets and shelves are conventionally fabricated from metal wire or rod suitably formed and welded to provide the desired strength and configuration. The brackets typically attach to the shelf solely at the ends thereof, and hence the securement of the brackets to the wall is positionally determined by the shelf length and the desired position of the shelf laterally along the wall. In some instances, one or more intermediate brackets are also provided, such normally being secured to and under the shelf at predetermined intermediate locations. With such arrangements, the secure attachment to the wall at a desired location therealong has presented a formidable problem since, once the optimum position of the shelf is determined, this hence predetermines the bracket location. In many instances the wall does not have the necessary structure, such as the necessary underlying vertical studs, to permit securement of the brackets to the wall with sufficient strength to permit the shelf to carry the desired load. In such instances, it is often necessary to shift the shelf laterally along the wall into a less than optimum position, and in effect align the shelf and specifically the brackets at the ends thereof with the underlying studs in order to permit secure attachment of the shelf to the wall. This hence severely restricts the positioning of the shelf along the wall. This also severely restricts the length of the shelf itself since, in some walls, the studs are on 16 inch centers and in others on 24 inch centers. The shelves thus must normallY have lengths corresponding to whole number multiples of these center line distances.
Further, even when the known shelving units have been properly aligned with the studs to permit proper securement to the wall, it has been observed that many of the shelf brackets utilize wall clamps which have a central hook-receiving opening for receiving the inner end of the bracket, and this wall clamp in turn has fasteners on opposite sides of the hook-receiving opening which are intended to screw into the stud. However, since the stud itself is typically of narrow width, such as one and one-half inches, it has been observed that the wall clamp must be extremely accurately aligned over the studs in order for the sidewardly-spaced fasteners to penetrate the stud. Such alignment is normally impossible to achieve, particularly with respect to a pre-existing wall due not only to the nonvisibility of the studs, but due also to the inherent irregularities which exist with respect to the spacing between the studs.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved shelf arrangement which is highly effective in overcoming or eliminating the aforementioned disadvantages.
More specifically, this invention relates to a shelf arrangement which permits the shelf to be selectively laterally positioned along the wall substantially at any desired location, with the shelf being attached to the wall by a pair of cantilevered brackets which attach to the wall and project outwardly beneath the shelf. The brackets releasably attach to the shelf at any desired location longitudinally therealong, and hence not necessarily at the ends thereof. The brackets can hence be positioned to properly align with the wall structure, such as the underlying studs in the wall, and hence the brackets themselves can be attached to the shelf so as to permit the latter to be nonsymetrically positioned relative to the brackets, and hence disposed in the desired lateral position along the wall.
In the shelf arrangement of the present invention, another advantage relates to the manner in which the brackets are cantilevered from and attach to the wall clamps which fixedly attach to the wall. The wall clamps have center parts which directly overlie the wall, and threaded fasteners extend through the center parts for securement to the underlying studs. The center part is disposed between a pair of hook-receiving parts. The rear of the bracket terminates in sidewardly spaced portions which themselves terminate in downwardly-oriented hooks which engage the sidewardly-spaced hook-receiving parts of the wall clamp. This arrangement facilitates the alignment with and securement of the wall clamps to the underlying studs.
In the improved arrangement of this invention, as aforesaid, the brackets are preferably constructed from wire rod and are preferably provided with a pair of shelf supports projecting upwardly therefrom in spaced relationship therealong for respectively engaging front and rear support rods which extend longitudinally along the shelf. Each of the upwardly-adjusting shelf supports cantilevers upwardly and at its upper end terminates in a rearwardly-oriented U-shaped hook which engages one of the support rods. This arrangement provides for secure supporting of the shelf on the bracket, and at the same time positively locks the shelf toward and preferably against the wall to prevent disengagement of the shelf from the brackets.
Other objects and purposes of the invention will be apparent to persons familiar with structures of this general type upon reading the following specification and inspecting the accompanying drawings.